Look in-house: could your next perfect candidate or career move be from within your company?

The battle for candidates. The big resignations. The skills gap. Whatever you call it, more and more companies are struggling to fill positions. The battle to find the right candidates is fierce and can leave companies feeling like they are constantly losing the skills they need to achieve their goals. In a recent McKinsey Talent podcast, McKinsey executives Bryan Hancock and Bill Schaninger talk with business partner Emily Field about the question, ‘Is the best talent hiding in plain sight?’
But it’s not just employers who can benefit from focusing on and nurturing in-house talent, but also ambitious employees looking for internal learning and development opportunities and considering the career benefits of choosing in-house roles.

In this blog we explore some of the key points of the podcast and provide tips for candidates and employers on how to think internally.

Bridging talent gaps internally
During the discussion, Emily talked about the importance of creating an internal digital marketplace: ‘A digital candidate marketplace shows who is looking for new opportunities in your organisation: it’s about identifying talent, their skills and their readiness to take on new roles.’

Until now, the possibilities offered by internal job networks have been limited. Job vacancies are not widely advertised and only candidates who are actively looking for a certain job in a certain area can move up. Digital marketplaces open the door to everything: they allow candidates to show their skills and abilities and to be matched with the most suitable jobs. A successful internal marketplace opens up a huge talent pool for recruiters and creates visibility within the organisation.

Focus on skills and attributes, not praise
We have long known that some job advertisements are overly restrictive and exclude potentially good candidates based on arbitrary criteria. As Bill says in his podcast: ‘The question is, where can we change the bar – but not lower it – to open up the funnel so that people can see that their qualifications match those required for open positions?’

When creating an internal labour pool, companies should carefully consider what skills are really needed to be successful in a role. They should also consider transferable skills and whether they should consider people who possess some of the required skills and who could shine with additional training.

The advantages of an internal career change for employees
The benefits of staying with the current employer can be huge for employees. Emily summed them up in conversation with Bill and Bryan: ‘From an individual perspective, the benefits are huge. Employees can stay with their chosen organisation. They can move to a role for which they are already suited or for which they might need to learn some skills.’

If you love your job and the people you work with, but are also ambitious and determined, you might think you have no choice but to look outside your current organisation. This is not always the case. Always take the time to evaluate internal career and learning opportunities: it might be the best way to speed up your job search.

Here are some quick tips for candidates and employers considering internal positions and applications:

Tips for candidates

• Create contacts between departments and divisions.
• Actively seek out learning and development opportunities.
• Recognise your passions and seek opportunities to develop them internally, even if this means thinking outside your current area of expertise.
• Make your desire to stay and grow within the company known.

Tips for employers

• Consider people with transferable skills in all areas of your organisation.
• Reconsider the skills and obstacles associated with each role.
• Give current employees the opportunity to say they are open to new challenges.
• Consider how technology can expand your internal talent pool.

Internal candidate pools are often overlooked. Make sure your organisation does not make this mistake. By developing strong internal pools and internal candidate markets, everyone wins.